HSSPA ESL Cafe started as a crazy idea back in January of this year. I was taking a teaching qualification and HSSPA didn’t have an English class at all — could we launch a successful ESL class with no experience whatsoever? With the support of the Harvard International Office (especially Zarrin!) and with fellow teachers Helen Coskeran, and later, Julia Cennamo, we opened the class in March and decided to find out. Here’s what happened:
We held our first Saturday class on 23rd March with a staggering 16 Harvard spouses in attendance. In the seven months to the 9th November we covered:
Grammar:
- Conditionals
- Use of the verb ‘to get’
- Use of ‘as’ and ‘than’
- Adjectives and adverbs
Language:
- Networking
- Tipping
- Going to the doctor
Skills:
- Writing – including restaurant reviews and persuasive travel writing
- Pronunciation – the IPA, -ed endings
Vocabulary:
- The body
- Feelings
- Jobs
- Food and cooking
- City landmarks
- The family tree
- Phrasal verbs for daily activities
- Describing movies
Songs:
- Adele – Someone like you
- Beyoncé – Put a ring on it
- The Beautiful South – I’ll sail this ship alone
Authentic materials:
- NPR – this and this on food, and this on ‘paying it forward’.
- Colbert – Exxon disaster relief
- 99U – Adam Grant
…and lots lots more!
On Saturdays we’ve held 27, two-hour classes, 52 people have attended at least one class, the average class attendance was 7, and 22 countries were represented.
While I’m taking a break until early 2014, ESL Cafe continues on Wednesdays 4.30-5.30 with the lovely Nicole. Contact her at nicole.radunsky+HSSPA@gmail.com for more information.
